reading meta data on audio file

i am trying to obtain certain metadata from remote audio files..wondering if there is a way for php to parse that data.. for example, if a user types in a url, [a href=\"http://www.somesite.com/audio/cool.mp3\" target=\"_blank\"]
[/a], then i would like to be able to grab info pertaining to the duration of the audio and any other included info such as artist name, etc.

I'm looking for the kind of the same thing. I am wondering if php can read metadata inserted into an mp3 from iTunes. I have checked out http://getid3.sourceforge.net/ but that thing is huge and I don't understand it. A simple, yes or no would save me hours of reading something I don't really understand.